The 2026 European Women’s Chess Championship is set to take place from 24 May – 6 June in Batumi, Georgia.
The event gathers 166 players coming from 32 European federations, and will be played in 11 rounds, swiss system, with the time control of 90 minutes for 40 moves, plus 30 minutes until the end of the game, with 30-second increment per each move starting from move one.
The field is headlined by Greek top Woman player and former World Youth Champion in several age categories – IM Stavroula Tsolakidou (GRE, 2455), who is the rating favourite in the championship. Tsolakidou is followed on the tournament starting list by: former World Youth Champion and Chess Olympiad Gold medalist with Ukraine (2022) – IM Yuliia Osmak (UKR, 2451), Azerbaijan representative and 2024 European Women’s Chess Champion – IM Ulviyya Fataliyeva (AZE, 2450), multiple Georgian National Champion, Georgian representative and European medalist – IM Lela Javakhishvili (GEO, 2442), Estonian top female player, representative and multiple-time medalist in European events – IM Mai Narva (EST, 2426), former World Chess Champion and Olympiad Gold medalist with Ukraine – GM Anna Ushenina (UKR, 2420), former World Champion in Youth categories, Georgian representative and medalist on European and World scene – GM Bella Khotenashvili (GEO, 2415), multiple-time winner of World Youth events, European Champion 2023 and Georgian representative – IM Meri Arabidze (GEO, 2409), top-rated German Woman player and multiple-time medalist in various European and World events – IM Dinara Wagner (GER, 2408), and top-rated Bulgarian female chess player, World Cup medalist, and European Team gold medalist with Bulgaria (2023) – IM Nurgyul Salimova (BUL, 2404).
Starting list of players can be found here.
The event features the prize fund of 60.000 EUR, and 10* qualification spots for the next FIDE Women’s World Chess Cup (*Under the current FIDE Women World Cup regulations, FIDE is the only body responsible for rules of the FIDE Women World Cup qualification spots.)
The first round of the event starts on Moday, 25th of May, with the start at 15:00 (local time). The Opening ceremony of the event will take place shortly before the start of the first round in the tournament playing venue.
Live video broadcast of the event can be followed through the ECU YouTube channel with commentaries by GM Valerian Gaprindashvili and WIM Sandra Djukic.
